Henry Cuellar: “We support border security. We also support the U.S. Citizen Immigration Service where they have asylum officers. One of…”

“We support border security. We also support the U.S. Citizen Immigration Service where they have asylum officers. One of the things we ought to be doing is adding more money to support the asylum officers so they can be at the border, and they can make a decision whether somebody stays or has a credible fear. We know the numbers; 89, 90 percent of the people who ask for asylum will be denied because the law is very specific on what asylum is. It has to be persecution by the state based on religion or based on political beliefs. If you are coming in because you want a job, or you are coming in for a better life, or you are coming in because of a drought or you are hungry or because your country is falling apart, it is not allowed under the law. What we ought to do is make sure that Homeland has the money to support border security. Again, I remind my friends that the last 2 years, we added $2.4 billion to the CBP budget authority, a 15 percent increase. Except for two Members from the Republican side, everybody voted ``no'' on it. Again, we want to support border security. If you want to look at fentanyl, the fentanyl will come in through two ports in Mexico, the legal precursors. Then they come up here, and we have to make sure that we add money for technology to make sure that we stop the drugs coming in. Again, I am for border security, and I want to work with you to get to border security.…”